Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you are all well rested and ready for 2019. Quick note: if you are currently in school, or are participating in advanced training, and have not yet looked into the scholarship opportunities currently being offered by CAMFT I urge you to follow this link to see if you might qualify. The deadline is January 4th by 5pm, so don’t delay! Good luck!

First and foremost I would like to congratulate IE-CAMFT’s Program Chair, Ilse Aerts, on being nominated for the Outstanding Leadership Award, which will be awarded at next month’s CAMFT Leadership Conference. Ilse is responsible for creating the wonderfully varied and relevant training program that we offer through IE-CAMFT, and we are incredibly grateful for all of her hard work and dedication that makes it all possible. In addition to Ilse, our entire board does some amazing team work with regards to membership development, including Carol A. Bouldin, Membership Chair and webmaster for our website, Steve Gray, Financial Officer, the CEU committee, and hospitality committee, who always provide a wonderful breakfast spread for our monthly meetings. This amazing talent and teamwork has also earned IE-CAMFT a nomination for the Chapter Excellence Award in the area of Best Membership Development. Congratulations, everyone! And thank you for all that you do for our members and our community!

Greetings everyone. I hope you all had a happy and festive Halloween. First of all, I would like to thank Stephanie Sherbon for a wonderful presentation on play therapy that she facilitated for us last month. She shared several creative interventions, and gave us wonderful insights into using these interventions to help children process and heal.

Secondly, I would like to take some time to remind you all of the importance of self-care. As we all know, we have a very contentious national election coming up next week. We are also entering the holiday season. Though the holidays can be a very joyful time of year, they can also be very stressful for a number of reasons. Not only are we trying to coordinate our own schedules with regards to holiday gatherings, shopping, and the like, but we are also often addressing the needs of our clients who have suffered losses and for whom the holidays can be a trigger. It can be easy to lose sight of our own needs and well-being in the midst of all of these obligations. I hope you will all take some time to check in with yourselves regularly and make sure you are meeting your own needs, whether that be meditating, exercising, or just remembering to eat lunch! I know that we are a caring and compassionate community, and that we want to do everything we can to help our patients and our loved ones, but in order for that to be sustainable, compassion for one’s self must come first. I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season.

In light of the recent Senate hearings and the fact that women comprise the vast majority of clients, as well as therapists, not to mention are 52% of the population, we therapists would be well-advised to be especially attuned to our female clients, co-workers, and ourselves as many of us will have been triggered by this replay of the Thomas hearings nearly 30 years ago where Anita Hill was grilled by some of the same men questioning Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Given the fact that the testimony of the women who came forward to share their sexual abuse experiences at the hands of the nominee was ultimately disregarded, and the solicitous attention given to the nominee while they were subjected to the usual disbelief, scrutiny re motives, and in Dr. Ford’s case, even death threats, these events have to be evoking strong feelings that are difficult to manage. In addition, the profuse apologies by several of the men in the Senate to the nominee for “what he has gone through” and then the president’s callous, insensitive statements about how it is “a dangerous time to be male” have to be especially excruciating to bear for female victims of male violence and assault. Women need safe spaces to recover.

Those of us therapists who have specialized in treating women and abuse victims realize that when dealing with our female clients, whether individually or in couple therapy, these kinds of events will very likely be eliciting anxiety, rage, depression, and/or an exacerbation of PTSD symptoms, and may be causing a lot of tension in women’s relationships, especially with males with whom they may be intimate. It is crucial that we act in a manner that telegraphs our unequivocal support, empathy, and understanding for the real victims in order to not only help them heal, but to not inflict more wounds.

I hope everyone is enjoying their back-to-school season! I want to thank Holli Kenley, LMFT, for an amazing presentation on “Powering Down and Parenting Up.” She gave us insight into the effects of technology on our children’s brain development, helpful guidelines for technology use for different age groups, and taught us the criteria for Electronic Screen Dependence. It was a very well-researched, relevant presentation and we hope she will come back again sometime soon! Next month we look forward to a training by Stefanie Sherbon, LMFT on "Stepping Outside of the Box: Creative Play Therapy Interventions." We hope you will be able to join us! Till then, have a safe and productive back-to-school season!

“Your Own Path Through Grief,” a workbook for your journey to recovery

“Someone is sick, how do I say goodbye?”

“Someone I love just died- what happens now?”

The workbook is a solution-focused approach to recovery from grief, and can be used immediately after a death or much later. It is designed to be usable in the setting of a group, with a therapist, or independently.

The other two are children's books, and were written to prepare children for a coming death in realistic terms, and for what happens in funerals, cremations, and touches on the grief process. Both books have a section in the back for adults to help them use the right words in teaching children about loss, and the second book has child-friendly definitions of terms used in the book.

She will also have “Your Path Through Grief,” a year-long process for grievers available.

Stefanie Sherbon, LMFTwill be promoting her therapeutic game ‘Owl Pal’ for abused children.

Brief Description:

Owl Pal Truth is a “True, False, or Dare” therapeutic game for children, who have experienced abuse. Instead of keeping abuse a secret, children get to uncover the truth about themselves and what happened to them. It was designed for professionals, such as: therapists, play therapists, school counselors, social workers, and psychologists to use with clients to help empower them. This fun, interactive game aims to help children process the abuse, reduce negative beliefs and feelings of guilt, increase their sense of worth, and build a positive self-image.

For years Lori Orr believed her Los Angeles firefighter dad was a selfless hero. When Lori’s dad was arrested and charged with four murders and countless arson fires, it was her testimony that helped keep him from being sent to Death Row. Eventually, Lori’s search for the truth led her to the dark secrets lurking in her family’s past and to an inescapable conclusion about the remorseless killer and arsonist known as the "Pillowcase Pyro" and his reign of terror in sunny Southern California.

“Daughters Betrayed By Their Mothers: Moving From Brokenness To Wholeness” providing audiences with an intimate exploration into the lives of females who chose wellness over victimhood.

“Breaking Through Betrayal: And Recovering The Peace Within” 2nd Edition” offering readers a comprehensive healing journey for breaking free from any kind of betrayal injury.

Patrick Poor, LMFTwill be informing people about Trauma Conversion Therapy, and offering 4 free CEUs to any therapist who watches 2 videos of presentations he did on treating PTSD as a Dissociative Disorder.

Brief Description: This book is an excellent resource for therapists and life coaches as it allows for systematic and individualized treatment and growth toward well-being. It also works well in group therapy and he has been conducting a Mindful Choices for Well-Being therapy group for several years.

Sherry Shockey-Pope, LMFT is Founder of Therapist Practice in a Box design to help graduate students, newly licensed practitioners, or anyone that wants to build a successful private practice the first time. She provides the support and coaching you need. Her attitude of “let’s get it done and stop talking about it” approach has helped many struggling clinicians. She is the cheering squad you need to build that successful practice. She is passionate about helping and teaching others how to build a private practice. Therapists Practice in a Box is the graduate school program on business practice building that you never had. Her website “Therapistbox.com” has many other helpful resources for clinicians.

Carol Adkisson, LMFT :Written from the perspective of a patient and clinician, Recovering My Life – A personal bariatric story is a raw reflection of weight loss using bariatric surgery as a tool. The book explores the emotional reasons for compulsive overeating and reveals the rarely shared truth from this writer’s perspective.

The companion book, Recovering My Life – Your Story – guides the reader through the process of discovering how her relationship with food negatively affected every aspect of her life. The workbook/journal brings the reader face-to-face with how s/he uses food to mask her/his emotional brokenness.

Debra Walker, Ph.D.will be promoting her book entitled “His History, Her Story”. It is the first book to explore the impact of male childhood sexual abuse on adult relationships. Aimed at helping both the partners of trauma survivors and mental health professionals, the book is written from the unique perspective of Dr. Debra Warner, the leading American forensic psychologist in the field of male trauma who is married to a trauma survivor. Dr. Warner, who is one of few women specializing in male trauma shares both her story and her husband’s as they make the journey to healing and recovery. Using the wisdom gained from her personal and professional experience, she provides hands-on direction as both wife and forensic psychologist to help survivors and their partners lead the rich and fulfilling relationships that they deserve.

For mental health professionals, this book represents a groundbreaking resource that explores in detail the phenomenon of male trauma and related issues. It contains the largest compilation of papers by leading psychologists and professionals working in the field of male trauma and relationships.

Traci Lowenthal, Psy.D.:will be promoting her book: Working with Transgender and Gender-Expansive Clients: A Foundational Guide for Therapists.

Clinical therapists and mental health providers who care for transgender and gender-expansive clients must be more than merely tolerant, more than LGBTQIA+ “friendly.” To be truly affirming of expansive people, providers must be knowledgeable and continuously expanding that knowledge as the communities evolve and expand. This book offers insights and up-to-date practical advice for clinical therapists and mental health providers contemplating care for transgender and gender-expansive clients.

Tyra Butler, LMFT

"How to Start and Grow Your Pre-Licensed Practice: A Step-by-Step Guide to Hit the Ground Running" is a new, online course to give early career therapists an edge to get into private practice, ethically and legally. You'll end up with an established practice that can sustain you throughout pre-licensure and beyond!

It includes:

-The top 10 benefits of starting a practice now rather than waiting until you're licensed

-How to move past the intimidation and anxiety surrounding getting into a private practice

-How to find a supervisor, with secrets to accelerate the process and land an ideal supervisor, including how to negotiate the best financial and overall arrangement to maximize earning potential

-What you need to know about the business side of private practice and your responsibilities versus your supervisor’s

-How to get clients and create a referral generation system

-How to effectively guide the first sessions so you can keep clients and increase your retention rates

The goal is to get you established and on your way to having a successful, thriving practice that sustains you financially and fits with the rest of your life, and so you can take care of yourself and your family, and not feel burned out or overworked. Tyra Butler is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who started and grew a successful practice while pre-licensed. She's grown practices in two cities and teaches others how to do it as well. Sign up on the waitlist (https://earlycareerclinician.lpages.co/early-interest-sign-up-how-to-start-and-grow-a-pre-licensed-practice/)

Greetings, IE-CAMFT! I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. If you were not able to join us in June you missed out on a wonderful presentation on Video & Social Media marketing. Huge thanks to Ernesto Segismundo for educating us with his experience, and inspiring us with his creativity.

This month we will be hosting the annual board retreat in lieu of the typical monthly training/board meeting. If you are interested in participating on the board please check out our website. Otherwise we hope to see you all in August when we will be hosting a training on helping children avoid/overcome technology dependence and assisting parents in raising "tech-healthy" children. Until then, stay cool!

To All: Authors/Program Providers

IE-CAMFT September Meeting, September 28th from 8:30 am – 12 pm

1898 Business Center Drive, San Bernardino, CA 92408

We are proud to welcome both authors and program providers to display information on their product, (books, CEU training, etc.). Please be available to show and sign your books and products. We are excited to see the body of work our local clinicians are producing. You may want to consider adding to your library, and or early holiday shopping for others.

For further information and RSVP, please contact:

Ilse – Program Chair – at 909-945-9947 or ilse.aerts76@gmail.com, or Carol – Board Member at large – at 909-693-3177

Happy May, everyone! First of all let me say that I am honored and excited to be serving as your local chapter president. I hope you will join me in welcoming our new slate of board officers, as well. We have a wonderful group of creative professionals who are committed to supporting MFTs throughout the Inland Empire. I would also like to remind you all that you are welcome to attend an IE-CAMFT board meeting at any time. They are held every fourth Friday of the month, after the monthly training. We would love to have you participate and share your thoughts and ideas with us.

As usual, our program committee is working hard to coordinate trainings aimed at further developing professional skills and maintaining top-notch ethical and legal standards of care in the Inland Empire therapeutic community. In our most recent IE-CAMFT sponsored presentation: “Creative Therapy for Adolescents: Brain-Based Approaches that Enhance Emotional Regulation and Resilience,” Georgie Wisen-Vincent provided us with invaluable insight on adolescents and brain development, as well as how this connects to parenting and providing therapeutic interventions. In May we look forward to learning more about hoarding from Carol Rose Adkisson’s presentation: “Step (Carefully) Inside the Secret Life of Hoarders.” We hope to see you there!